It may have been a little early for Massachusetts’ traditional sugaring season, when maples are tapped for sap to boil down to delicious syrup, but some young campers still got some first-hand experience in the art.
Discovery Adventure campers participated in three- or five-day programs at Old Sturbridge Village, a living and vibrant outdoor history museum in Sturbridge that depicts what life in a rural New England town was like in the early 19th century.
They learned not only the art of syrup making, but took in other classes and demonstrations like pottery making.
Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald
Nantucket's George Butterworth inserts a tap made of sumac into the trunk of a sugar maple while volunteering during Old Sturbridge Village's maple days. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Sap from a red soft maple collects into a troth at Old Sturbridge Village. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Sap from a red soft maple collects into a troth at Old Sturbridge Village. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
A Discovery Adventure camper stands by a table full of clay sculptures inside the pottery shop at Old Sturbridge Village. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Spencer's Jeffery Friedman gives a pottery demonstration at Old Sturbridge Village. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Discovery Adventure campers focus on a blacksmith demonstration at Old Sturbridge Village. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Spencer's Jeffery Friedman shows Discovery Adventure campers pieces that were made inside the pottery shop at Old Sturbridge Village. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Discovery Adventure campers walk along a dirt road in costume at Old Sturbridge Village. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Ashburnham's David Caruso shows campers a trivet that was made in the Old Sturbridge Village's blacksmith shop. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Discovery Adventure campers walk along a dirt road in costume at Old Sturbridge Village. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
Ashburnham's David Caruso holds up a half-finished trivet during a demonstration at Old Sturbridge Village's blacksmith shop. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald)
